Buffalo Turkey Burgers

This is a recipe I tried from the Foodie Friends Friday linky party. It was linked up by My Imperfect Kitchen.  It was from party #4, though, as usual, I can't leave well enough alone and changed it up a bit.  Hamburgers are one of the things my husband misses most about his new eating habits, so this was a great choice.  We used store bought buns and chose the ones with the least number of carbohydrates, and lighted up the sauce a bit by using a fat free store bought sauce and omitting the butter.  This is so much healthier than our usual buns and beef, and I even like it better since I am not a big ground beef fan.  Hope you enjoy it too!



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Super Fast Brownie for One

This is the best way to get a really quick, really good brownie fix without blowing your diet for a whole week.  Ok, it might blow it for the day, but if you make a whole pan of brownies, you are going to eat them for days.  This one is gone in one sitting, so it does minimal damage.  I am not calling this a mug brownie because I didn't put it in a mug, but you can if you like.  The best part is that it is actually a brownie.  Not to say that I couldn't have missed it somewhere, but none of the brownies in a mug I have seen are actually brownies.  Most of them call for about the same amount of flour that you would put in an 8" x 8" pan of brownies, which makes them a cake or a muffin, but not a brownie.  This is the real thing.  It is fudgey, and chewy and everything a brownie should be.  I have only made it in the microwave, but if you are not in a tremendous rush for your brownie fix, and you have put it in an oven safe container, I am sure it would do well in the oven too (maybe better, but you will have to wait on it) - not sure of time and temperature though.  You are probably going to want to eat this with a spoon while it is still hot, and it would be great with a scoop of ice cream on top.  


The recipe is based on my favorite brownie recipe, Robert's Absolute Best Brownies by David Lebovitz.  It is cut way down and the proportions are not exactly the same - though they are close.  And, it only uses egg whites.  It needs some egg for binding and the liquid egg whites you can buy in the cartons at the grocery store are the easiest way to get just a tablespoon.  And, they have a really long date on them, so there is time for multiple brownies if that is the only thing you are buying them for. Let me warn you that it will bubble up quite a lot (notice the ring around the top of the ramekin) and be very hot when you take it out, so be careful.  Hope you enjoy!

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Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #5

First, just let me apologize for the slow week here at From Calculus to Cupcakes.  I have kids to get ready to go back to school and have been doing a lot of playing with fondant for the wedding cake I will be making next week.  I hope to have several good posts up between now and then, but after the wedding, I will have lots of fondant adventures to post as well as some great recipes for the cupcakes that will also be at the wedding, so keep checking back.


Last week was a great week for Foodie Friends Friday though!  I got several recipes that I just have to try!  And, I can't wait to see what everyone posts this week.


Here are the winners from last week:

With the most votes...

#1 Jams and Pans with Apple Walnut and Coconut Cake with Baileys Fudge frosting
#2 Spatulas on Parade with Hodge Podge Salad
#3 Baked in the South with Margarita Cupcakes

Don't forget to grab your "prize" on the "Page of Fame."

And the recipes who got the "Most Clicks" were:

#1 Flour Me With Love with Stuffed Cinnamon Rolls
#2 Family Food Finds with Hawaiian Style Chicken Katsu
#3 Diddles and Dumplings with Crockpot Mexican Pork

Don't forget to grab your "prize" on the "Page of Fame."

My favorites this week were:  These cherry pie muffins from Chelsea's Culinary Indulgence

and this Chicken Tortilla Soup in the Crockpot from A Virtual Essence

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Lower Carb, Higher Protein Breakfast Cookie

Ok, please excuse the photos.  I almost didn't post this because the photos were so bad. The only trouble with that is that you would have to wait to get this awesome recipe.  So, if at a later date, I can manage better photos, I will update this with better ones.  In the mean time, you just have to try breakfast cookie.  It takes almost no time to make and will keep you satisfied for hours, and it tastes like a cookie - a good cookie.  Even better, this is a lower carb, higher protein version of the ones you've been seeing around on the internet.  And, to top it off, it is gluten free.  We don't have trouble eating gluten, but trying to lower the carbs in some things due to my husband's diabetes often results in a gluten free alternative.  


I got the original recipe at Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts who adapted it from Including Cake.  I  altered it a little to my tastes and to lower the carbs a bit by substituting almond flour for the whole wheat.

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Strawberry Rose Tea Sandwiches

I have been wanting to make these or something like them for a long time.  I saw a photo somewhere online that I thought was of strawberry sandwiches, but you couldn't tell for sure and there were no words, just a photo.  Unfortunately, I can't find that photo, but it got me thinking about strawberry sandwiches, which led to these.  I will give you the recipe for them the way I made them, but this recipe could easily be altered to include different herbs or flavorings.  They are just barely sweet, so if you like things a bit sweeter, add more sugar.  The cream cheese mixture is almost more of a sauce or dressing and would probably make a great fruit dip.  The rose compliments the strawberries nicely, and nothing says tea time like floral flavors.  I am not really giving you a number of servings because that would vary wildly with the size of your cookie cutters, but you should have enough to spread and strawberries to use an entire small loaf of bread.

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Tomato Pie with Olive Oil Rosemary Crust

They say that there are two things that money can't buy - true love and home grown tomatoes.  You really can't have too much love though, but you can have too many home grown tomatoes.  Or, at least, you can have too many for the time you have to do something with them.  I have lots of home grown tomatoes and a very busy next few weeks, so I doubt there is going to be a lot of canning, etc. in my future, so you may see a lot of tomatoes recipes as I try to use them up.  


Tomato pie is usually a mainstay in our house over the summer showing up every week or two, but this is the first time we have had it this year.  It not only uses the tomatoes my husband grows in his garden, but also the herbs that I grow (or plant and let him take care of...) in mine.  The tomatoes came a bit late this year, and we are trying to eat a bit healthier, so our tomato pie eating has been curtailed a bit.  I did substitute light mayonnaise this time, so it is a smidgen healthier, but it is still not exactly good for you.  The taste, however, is so good that we couldn't let the summer get away without having it at least once, and I didn't even notice the light mayonnaise.  The best part is the olive oil rosemary pie crust anyway.


I didn't actually have a recipe for any of this except the crust until last year, when I wrote it all down to go in the farmers' market cookbook where I sold cupcakes.  I must admit, having a recipe written down does make it easier, and you can always change it up by using additional or different herbs.  It is not in the recipe, but I added in a bit of lemon verbena this time.

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Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #4

Thank you to everyone that linked up last week.  We had another great week with the linky party, and I hope you did too!


Here are the top recipes.

Let's start with the Top 3 Voted Recipes...picked by you!

At the #1 spot is our very own Host Marlys at This and That with her Lemon Lime Sugar Cookies

The #2 and #3 spot go to Spatulas on Parade 

with the recipes for Fish Tacos and Sock It To Me Cake

Go ahead and grab your button at http://www.foodiefriendsfriday.com/ from the "Page of Fame"

And the Top 3 with for Most Clicks Are:

The Most Clicks went to Spatulas on Parade for the Sock It To Me Cake!

Congratualtions!!

#2 for most clicks goes to Chef Picky Kid for the Teriyaki Pulled Chicken

and #3 most clicked was: Country Girl at Home with the Chocolate Gravy

Go ahead and grab your button at http://www.foodiefriendsfriday.com/ from the "Page of Fame"

Now for my picks...


The sweet:  these Mini Raw Cherry Lime Cheesecakes by Fragrant Vanilla Cake

And, the savory:  these Veg Filled Squash Cups by Cooking's Good Vegetarian Cafe.

If you were one of my picks, hop on over to the Foodie Friends Friday's hosts page and grab this button:

Check out the other hosts to see what there picks this week were.  This week's hosts are:

Tracy at Busy Vegetarian Mom

Robyn at Robyn's View 

Angie at A 'Lil Country Sugar  

Wayne at Passione Per Cucina  

Sarah at Everything in the Kitchen Sink  

Michelle at From Calculus to Cupcakes

Marlys at This and That

Lois at Walking on Sunshine

Erika at Chef Picky Kid and Me

Lindsey at Family Food Finds

Cindy at Cindy's Recipes and Writings

Dawn at DJ's Sugar Shack

Skye at A Virtual Essence

Sheri at Homemade Served Here

Keira at Lusciousd Delights

Amber at Mamas Blissful Bites

Rhiannon at Baked in the South

Brianne at For the Love of Food (and Eating!)
Pooja at Saffron N Appetite

Step 1:  Make sure that anything you link up is:

• A Recipe...and is made and photographed by you
• Not part of a sponsership/sales/giveaway or other promotions/linky parties
• Linked to a specific page of your recipe, not your homepage
• Please limit your link-ups to 3 per party

Step 2:

• Show some love and link back to my blog and Foodie Friends Friday (http://www.foodiefriendsfriday.com ) on the post of the recipe you are submitting.

* for example:  This recipe is featured on "Host Blog Link" and  http://www.foodiefriendsfriday.com  Linky Party)

If you want to be the very best Foodie Friend Ever...

• Grab our button at http://foodiefriendsfriday.com and put it on your page and share Foodie Friends Friday!
• Take some time and check out other submitted links and the blogs of all of our gracious hosts
• Come on over and "like" us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter and Pinterest

***Please note that by linking up you are transferring rights to Foodie Friends Friday and any of it's affiliated websites or publications to use photos/links/recipes for any reprint, republishing and distribution without monetary compensation to you.  If photos/recipes are used, proper credit/ linkbacks will be published with them.  We just want to share your amazing recipes and spread some foodie <3 !

Have Fun and Thank You for Visiting!!

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Southern Fried Okra

Really good southern fried okra is a lot more difficult to come by than you would think.  I mean its just okra with a little flour and corn meal fried, right?  How hard could it be?  Well, just let me tell you the things that can go wrong.  You can under cook it.  Trust me, raw okra is probably not something you are going to be excited about, and cooked but not done, well, that is just slimy.  Then, you can over cook it, which will at best end up as a pile of yummy but crumbly mess or at worst burnt tasting and inedible.  And, odds are, if you've fried okra by just dusting it with a flour/cornmeal mixture, most of that mixture probably ended up at the bottom of your frying pan.  So to combat this, you could try to dip it in batter.  You know, kind of like that frozen stuff that has an almost removable shell on the outside and not quite done okra on the inside that southern cooks scoff at but will still eat in a pinch at a restaurant.  But, this is different.  The cornmeal and flour actually stick without forming a shell, which allows you to get it just done enough (inside and out) by about the time it gets nice and  golden brown.  The only trouble with it, is that, like many southern recipes, it is not exactly a recipe... it is more like a procedure, it just depends on how much okra you have.

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Peach Crumble for Two, Two Ways

Anybody else out there have family members with conflicting restrictive diets? How about someone who is concerned with portion control?  If you answered yes to either of those questions, one or both of these recipes might be for you.  


First of all, we are trying to limit our portions of sweets to lose weight, so individual desserts really help this.  Neither of the these actually contain sugar - though I do give the sugar amounts for those wanting to avoid sugar substitutes, so maybe it isn't actually a dessert, but it tastes like one.  Then there are the dietary restrictions. My husband has diabetes, so we are trying to count carbohydrates, so two of these have almond flour in them instead of all-purpose flour.  It just so happens though that my daughter is severely allergic to nuts, so the other two have flour.  They both contain a few oats, and while I used the regular ones, if you need to eat gluten free, then the almond flour version with gluten free oats is for you.  And, if you can settle on one version, it will definitely save you some time.  I can pretty much eat anything, so I had a bite of each and am still not sure which I like best, and I have to say that they are quite similar anyway.  Hope you enjoy!

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Raspberry Filled Lemon Cupcakes

In a few weeks, I am going to be making a wedding cake for some friends who are getting married.  They really like the lemon-raspberry combination, and I already have a great lemon cake recipe and a great raspberry filling recipe, but I have never actually put them all together.  So, I made these cupcakes to test it out.  They were really delicious!  I am not sure why I have not put them together sooner!  And, with any luck, the bride will agree.  Raspberry can go all the way from super fresh to jammy, this filling is kind of in between, so we will see.  

The cake is a very lemon cake that I originally go out of a Cooking with Paula Deen Magazine several years ago and have only barely adapted.  The filling is sort of a cobbled together from bits of other recipes to make it the way I want it.  And, the frosting is a classic cream cheese with the additions of lemon zest and juice.

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Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #3

Last week was an awesome Foodie Friends Friday Week!  Thank you all for linking up!  I hope you all will link up again this week.  I have so many new recipes to try that I don't think I will ever get to all of them, but I'm going to try.  Here are last weeks top recipes as voted on by you and by number of clicks.  Please scroll down to the rules and read them before you post because they have changed just a little bit.

Voted Top 3 Recipes this week by you:

#1 with 4 Votes:  Smores Cookie Cake from That Skinny Chick can Bake


#2 with 3 Votes and 29 Clicks:  Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Billionaire Bars
from From Calculus to Cupcakes


#3 with 3 Votes and 13 Clicks:  It was a 4 way tie!!

Light Blueberry Donuts from All is Amazing

Cheesy Breadsticks and Marinara from Cooking from a Stay at Home Mom

Berries and Cream Muffins from Baking by Precious

Skinny Mint Choc. Chip "Ice Cream" Sandwiches from The Part Time Housewife

Head on over to the Foodie Friends Friday and get your Button!

(Look on Page of Fame)

The Recipes that had the most "Clicks" are:

#1 with 29 Clicks:  Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Billionaire Bars
from From Calculus to Cupcakes

#2  with 23 Clicks:  Falling Off the Bone BBQ Ribs from Walking on Sunshine

#3 with 22 Clicks:  Black Bean Lime Salad from A Virtual Essence

You can go grab the "Click Star" Button at Foodie Friends Friday

(Under Page of Fame)

Here are my favorites for this week, so if you are one of them, don't forget to go over to Foodie Friends Friday and grab you button.  It is on the hosts page.

My favorite sweet was this recipe for Orange/Apricot Muffins, because I have this weird thing for orange muffins.

And the savory, was this recipe for Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Casserole because my husband loves cabbage rolls.

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Grilled Salmon with Fresh Peach Salsa

We finally made it to the farmers' market last week.  The last two years, I have sold baked goods, primarily cupcakes and French macarons, at two markets. Unfortunately, this year, I have had too many other professional commitments to do that, and this was the first time that I have even been able to attend.  I do miss it.  But anyway, we bought peaches (among other things) at the market, and with those peaches, I made this wonderful peach salsa to go over salmon.  This makes a delicious and healthy meal.

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Chocolate Sorbet

Do you like chocolate ice cream?  Ok, you probably don't dislike it, right?  I mean it is ice cream.  But, do you ever have that feeling that it just isn't chocolate enough? Well, this is the cure for that problem.  It is super chocolate, almost like fudge, and its dark chocolate.  If you are one of those rare people who hate dark chocolate, this is probably not for you, but for everyone else this is decadent.  It does have a bit of fat in it unlike most sorbets from the chocolate, but that fat adds a creaminess that make it seem like ice cream with none of the milk to dilute the chocolate flavor.


I got this recipe off of the Smitten Kitchen who adapted it from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.  And, aside from some very minor changes, pretty much followed the recipe.  Hope you enjoy.

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Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with Roasted Beets

My husband brought these two spaghetti squash home from the farmers' market, and I wanted to make something different with them.  Usually, I roast them, remove the strands, and put some sort of sauce over the strings or toss them with olive oil and garlic.  I had an idea that I wanted to stuff them, but really didn't have much of an idea what I wanted to stuff them with, so I started looking around on the internet and stumbled across this recipe at My Kitchen Addiction. I made a few changes to the original recipe and came up with these.  They were really delicious.

Of course, my husband didn't come home with just spaghetti squash, he brought beets too, so I made a super simple but really delicious roasted beet recipe to go with the squash.  This recipe might seem almost too simple, but if you like beets, you will love it. Make sure to scroll down below the squash recipe to see the beet recipe.

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Southern Strawberry Cake for my Dad's Birthday

If you have been in the south for any length of time you have probably come across this strawberry cake.  It is super strawberry and perfectly pink, and it is basically a doctored cake mix.  But, don't let its pretty pink color fool you, most of the requests I've had for this come from men.  And, as southerners who feel that bringing one another food for every occasion will make things better, it is as likely to show up for a funeral as a little girl's princess birthday party.  I've seen a couple of different versions some use a white cake mix while others use yellow - I much prefer the white.  Some put berries in the cake and juice in the frosting (like this one) and some do just the opposite, but they all turn out basically the same - super yummy.  For, a while, I spent A LOT of time trying to duplicate this cake without a cake mix and jello, but finally came to the conclusion that it couldn't be done.  In the process, I did come up with a strawberry cake that I actually like better, but it is not quite as sweet, not quite as pink, and really not the same as this one. It does have a great fresh berry taste, though.  I will share it with you sometime, and let you decide. But, Daddy's favorite is this one, so this is the one he gets, and I have to say that it is the most common strawberry cake recipe for a reason - it really is good, and easy to make too.


A few notes on this recipe:  


This cake has quite the reputation for falling, but don't let that stop you from trying it because I can tell you how not to let that happen.  First, the only time I personally have had this happen was when my son was younger, and I just couldn't seem to get the message across about not jumping down the stairs while the cake is in the oven, so obviously discourage jumping.  Just make sure your oven is really preheated. Almost there is not good enough.  And, make sure it is actually done before you take it out of the oven.  It will get quite brown because cake mix does that, so expect it.  Don't think because it is brown that it is done, instead make sure a pick inserted into the center comes out clean.  I really think removing the cake from the oven before it is done is the culprit of these stories.`


One of the great things about it is that if frosts so easily.  You don't even need to crumb coat it.  


And yes, for you decorators out there, the buttercream crusts, but it is not stiff enough to pipe roses (but maybe you could leave some juice out if you really want to try it).  And, if you are piping watch for seeds getting caught in your tip an making things come out funny.  You should be able to dislodge any seeds with a toothpick and keep on going

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Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party Week 2

Welcome to this week's Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party!

The Linky Party last week was lots of fun.  There were so many great recipes linked up that I just can't wait to try!  Thank you to everyone who linked up!

The top 3 with the most "clicks" were:

#1 Walking On Sunshine

 Peanut Butter Cups

#2 Dawn's Divine Delights

 Lemon-Lime Cake!

#3 a Tie!!

Cindy's Recipes and Writings

PA Dutch Potato Salad 

            

And

A'Lil Country Sugar

Mini S'more Cookies

Below are a couple that were my personal favorites, and if you are one of those I picked, be sure to head over to Foodie Friends Friday Host Page and grab this button.

First the sweet...

 Snickerdoodle Brownies by Cookin' a Blue Streak   

I love snickerdoodles and I love brownies, so these have to be good!

And then the savory...

Slow Cooker Peanut Chicken by Our Everyday Harvest

Slow cooker recipes make it easy to get everything for dinner on the table in a timely manner, and peanut chicken is one of my favorites.  This is definitely on my must try list!

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Billionaire Bars

Ok, you seriously have to try these.  I took them to a party and they were a huge hit.  They were even described as the best dessert, ever.  These bars have all of the things you love in one:  shortbread, caramel, chocolate chip cookie dough (yes, the dough not cookies, and chocolate).  If they get too warm the caramel does ooze out a bit, which is hard to avoid during a Georgia summer, but really is oozing caramel a bad thing?  I don't think so.


This recipe is one I adapted from this one at the Brown Eyed Baker, who adapted it from The Cookie Dough Lovers Cookbook by Lindsay Landis of Love and Olive Oil.  I don't have her book yet, but it is on my list and after making these, it has definitely moved to the top!  This recipe is super easy, but make sure you read the directions before beginning.  It has several chill times that you need to allow for.  Hope you enjoy!

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Happy Fourth of July!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

Mamey Pops and a Little Ice Cream too

Mamey or Mamey Sapote was first introduced to me by a wonderful Cuban lady who used to own a local Cuban restaurant near me.  She made wonderful mamey milkshakes.  The mamey itself is a tropical fruit that has a very unique flavor.  I have heard it described as similar to a number of different things such as peach, pumpkin, cherry, almond - none of which taste similar or really like mamey.  I want to say it has an almost fruity mild chocolate taste, but you probably will disagree as much as I do with the others.  You simply have to taste it.  Supposedly, you can find its frozen pulp at Hispanic markets, but I have had no luck finding it.  However, very occasionally, you can find it fresh.  My husband found the one I used here at Your Delkab Farmers Market in Decatur, GA.  It was quite large, and I got over 2 cups of puree from it even after throwing a large over ripe portion away.  If you scroll down below the recipes, I have some pictures of the mamey itself, so you will know what to look for.  I didn't take a picture of the inside before I removed the fruit because part of it was over ripe to the point of not being attractive, but it looks similar to an avocado, but with orange flesh and an oblong black seed.

I used the same mixture to go in the ice cream maker as I put in the pops.  The recipe itself is much lower in fat than the average ice cream recipe, but trust me, you will never know.  This recipe came from the Cuban milkshake idea I mentioned earlier in that the milkshake had sweetened condensed milk in it.  I wanted a similar taste, but we have been limiting our sugar.  I am going to take the time here to tell you that my husband was recently diagnosed with with type II diabetes, and while there will still be plenty of baked goods on here, there will be some diabetes friendly recipes too.  He really doesn't eat much of most of the sweets I make, but ice cream and popsicles are a different story.  He really likes those.  And yes, I have read about the evils of sucralose, but we are not going to make this sort of thing everyday, and we are experimenting with alternatives, but honestly those experimentations have not gone so well.  And luckily, things have changed and diabetics can have a controlled amount of sugar.  So, back to the sweetened condensed milk, I found this sweetened condensed milk substitute recipe at The Diabetic Pastry Chef and incorporated it into the recipe.  

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Healthy Berry Muffins

This is another red, white, and blue recipe, but this one is for breakfast.  They are bursting with berry flavor not only from the berries you see, but also from the berry puree in the batter.  And, they gave me a chance to try out a new idea I had with chia seeds.  I wanted to use stevia as the sweetener, but it calls for liquid sweetener, but all liquid sweeteners are a bit thicker than water.  So, I soaked the chia seeds in water until they formed a gel and mixed the sweetener into that giving me a thicker-than-water, healthy sweetener to mix into my muffins.  Feel free to use a different sweetener.  The original recipe calls for 1/4 cup of agave nectar, honey, or maple syrup, so you could just substitute that for the water, chia seeds and stevia.

This recipe was adapted from this strawberry muffin recipe at Healthy Food for Living who supposedly adapted it from an oatmeal blueberry muffin recipe from Joy the Baker (I couldn't actually locate the recipe, but don't want to slight anyone).  There are several adaptations including the chia seed mixture.  Hope you enjoy!

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